"Um," you say, holding the bundle of dry clothes in your hands. You're rather anxious to get out of the uncomfortable wet ones you've been wearing all night.

Plumeria turns around and covers her eyes. "Go ahead."

You place the clothing on the bed, rolling your eyes when you see what you've been given: A Team Skull tank top and sweat pants. Guess you should have expected that. You peel your wet clothes off and put your new ones on. "So I guess this is all... you know, real?" you ask Plumeria. You're still working on fully coming to terms with this.

"Unfortunately."

"And the rules of the curse are?'

"Grunts become Lycanrocs at night. Guzma becomes a monster. We turn back during the day. We can't leave the outskirts of the town."

"Or what?"

"Or injury and eventually death."

"You know this for sure?"

There's a pause. "Some have tried."

You feel a pang of sympathy that you try to brush away. You wonder how many grunts have become desperate, tried to leave, and died over the years. You finish dressing and tell Plumeria she can turn around. You sit on the bed and she walks toward you.

"Look," she says. "I know this is all weird-"

"An understatement to be sure."

"Yeah, well," she looks at you with sincerity. "It's not all bad. We're not all bad. The boss is - he can be rough - but once you get to know him-"

"Don't want to get to know him. Unless you've forgotten, he's holding me prisoner here."

"Well, I can't blame you there, girlie." She looks a bit defeated. Then she smiles at you. "But you know, I think all my brothers and sisters will see you as something more than a prisoner. If you don't get to know Guzma, you should at least come meet them!"

You don't say anything. Right now you're not too keen on Guzma with his attitude and anger, but the grunts? What were they like as humans and not Lycanrocs? Your stomach rumbles in the silence.

"Come on," she says, motioning with her head toward the door. "Let me show you the one good thing about this curse."

You pause a moment. Were you ready to leave the relative safety of this room? Your curiosity is insatiable. You rise from the bed and follow Plumeria out the door.

"When do you all sleep?" you ask out in the hallway.

"We don't... really need much sleep. We tend to just sorta nap during the day." She gestures to a grunt passed out on the ground. He's curled up in a ball and one of his legs is kicking in his sleep while he dreams. "Guess that's one of the very few benefits. If you wanna call it that."

"That's your good thing about being cursed?"

"Nope," Plumeria says, smiling at you. "That, would be in the kitchen."

She leads you downstairs and through the mansion to a large set of double doors. She pushes them open and you find you're in a dining hall. One that's packed with Team Skull grunts. They're all back to human now, and dressed in matching uniforms. But despite no longer being beasts, they are still loud and rowdy. They're eating, and laughing, and carrying on. It looks more like an unruly middle school cafeteria than the prestigious dining hall of a mansion.

As the doors close behind you, the pack of grunts goes quiet and dozens of pairs of eyes fall on you and Plumeria.

"Hey! It's the girl!" a male grunt yells, breaking the silence.

"The who?" asks another.

"She's our prisoner!" one answers.

"No!" says Plumeria, smiling at you. "She's our guest." She beckons for you to follow her through the hall to the kitchen. Not a single eye leaves you as you make your way there.

The kitchen is the largest you've ever seen. Appliances of all kinds are all around, and you wonder if there were once cooks and servants attending to it all. You follow Plumeria to an open, empty pantry. "Watch this!" she says, eyes twinkling.

She closes the cupboard door and then reopens it. There, on a shelf, to your utter disbelief, is a plate of donuts sitting where there was nothing just a second before.

"What?!" you can't stop yourself from yelling.

She picks up the plate and offers it to you. "Pretty awesome, right?"

You pick up a donut and move closer to the pantry, peering inside and running a hand over the shelf. "This some kinda trick?"

Plumeria laughs. "You can believe we all turn into pokemon at night, but you can't believe this? We can't leave the town, remember? Guess the Tapus had to make sure we ate somehow. Same thing happens with the fridge."

You take a bite of the donut. "Ok, so that might be worth being cursed I suppose."

You both take advantage of the enchanted fridge and cupboard, grabbing more food, and then go back to the dining hall. You sit with Plumeria at an empty table, and suddenly every other seat fills up around you. Two grunts shove each other, trying to both take the last seat. As they're distracted with their tussle, a third comes and takes the chair. Other grunts are standing by the table, some even sitting on the ground, and all are staring at you.

You swallow nervously, feeling self-conscious under all the attention.

Plumeria sighs. "Y'all can't let the girl settle in first?"

"It's just been so long," says a female grunt. "So long since there's been someone from outside here."

"Yeah, what's Malie City like now?" asks one.

Another excitedly raises his hand, like he's waiting to be called on, even as a question blurts from him anyway. "Do they still have the island challenge?"

Plumeria gives you a sympathetic smile. "Being confined makes people curious, you know?"

You spend your breakfast answering questions and getting to know the grunts. You can't remember the last time anyone was this interested in hearing you speak, let alone a room full of miscreants. Speaking with them seems to cure some loneliness you weren't even aware you had developed. Stuck in your routine of merely work and pretending to enjoy Garret's selfish stories, the most enjoyment you had before this were your times with Alana. You feel a pang of guilt as you think of your younger sister. This was the most fun you've had in a while, but the sooner you got back to her, the better. When you got the chance, you'd find this far east room.

The top floor of the mansion is just tall enough to let you see past the gate surrounding the town. Guzma often stares out the window of his room, like he's doing now, at the land beyond the community and into the distance. How long had it been since he'd been there himself? Too long. And now, in all likelihood, he'd never walk on any ground past Po Town ever again.

Enchanted though the Comfey the Tapus left may be, that didn't stop it aging. He and Team Skull might not have grown older thanks to the curse, but she had. There wasn't much life left in the pokemon. When she dies, all of this becomes permanent. No more shots at redemption. Maybe he didn't deserve any anyway. He feels even worse for all of the grunts. More than anything, he wishes there were something he could do for them. Guilt drags its nails down his insides. He can't help but feel responsible for them being trapped here too.

And this girl? Well, it was probably foolish to even consider her an option. Maybe he should just let her go. Was there a point in keeping her trapped here as well? At least someone could be freed.

Guzma turns when the door opens behind him.

"You ok, boss?" asks Liam.

Guzma shoves his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"Good. So, uh, you gonna give this another go?"

"There's no point, Liam. We can't just force something to happen."

"I ain't saying force." Liam scratches at his ear again. "I'm just saying try."

Guzma shakes his head in annoyance. "This was a bad idea from the start. Take someone prisoner and expect them to genuinely fall in love? In what world would that ever work?"

Liam shrugs. "Ain't like we've got many options."

"I don't know that it would work even if she wasn't mad as hell. I don't know her. Who says that I'd fall in love with her?"

"Trapped gang leaders can't be choosers?"

Guzma sighs. "I'll probably just let her go. Maybe. I don't know."

"You're just gonna give up?"

Guzma considers Liam for a moment. He thinks of all the grunts in his charge. He thinks of the ones who grew despondent; the ones who became so bored with this existence that they just had to try crossing the border. The ones who have died. If this becomes permanent, how many more will follow their path when there's no longer hope? "I'm just... really bad at this. Sometimes I just say shit. I don't even know how to talk to anyone outside Team Skull."

"Wish I could help you there, boss. You just gotta control your temper."

Guzma puts a hand behind his head. "Never been good at that either." He thinks a moment. "I'll just leave her alone for a bit. Let her cool off, you know? Probably best if I avoid her for now."

"Well, let's not ignore the kitchen. I'm starving."

You've grown more comfortable with the grunts of Team Skull now. You're laughing with them and carrying on in the dining hall, feeling a sense of belonging that was so sorely missing for you in Tapu Village. Then the double doors open and there is...

You recognize the glasses sitting atop his head and the chain around his neck. It's Guzma, only a lot less monster and a lot more human now. You stop mid-sentence in your conversation. You're taken aback by how attractive you find him now that he's no longer covered in fur and baring his teeth at you. You're not sure what you expected him to look like as a human, but this wasn't it.

"What's this?" he says playfully, an over-confident smirk plastered on his face. "Merriment? Who said you degenerates could-"

The smile vanishes from his face when his eyes meet yours. He rubs at the back of his neck and he's quiet for a tense moment.

There's a male grunt with him who suddenly shouts, "Eyy boss!"

This starts a chorus of "Eyy boss!" from all over the room, every grunt joining in and repeating the phrase, as Guzma rolls his eyes and enters now that the tension has been broken.

You look at Plumeria questioningly, but she just shrugs her shoulders and smiles.

Guzma approaches your table. "Hungry after all, princess?"

You try to ignore the tiny swirling in your stomach that you feel now that he's close and meeting your gaze. "Losing my appetite now."

He huffs. "Still angry, huh? Cute."

Plumeria gives him a warning look.

"Not gonna be cute if you keep that pokemon from me much longer."

He puts his hands on his hips. "What are you gonna do, huh?"

"Wouldn't you like to find out."

"Thought people were supposed to be less bitchy after they ate," he sneers.

Bitchy? You've had enough. You don't want to put up with him anymore. You're exhausted and don't have the patience for his attitude. You get up from the table, much to the displeasure of the grunts around you and move for the door.

"Wait!" Guzma shouts, looking panicked. "That isn't - that's not what I-"

"You can talk to me again when you're ready to tell me where the Yungoos is."

"Please, hold on! I-"

But you're gone out the double doors.